Such a beautiful day, the breeze was gentle, sounds of birds chirping in the sky and the clashing of blades rang like a melodious symphony, the sun was illuminating the lush forest...
" What are you looking at Matt? Focus on training or I'll kick your ass. " Astrid's eyes gleamed as she threatened me.
Five years have passed in the blink of an eye.
We have grown to reach what should be a fourteen year olds appearance even though we are only ten, our baby fat was replaced by sharp features and decent muscles could be seen beneath our leather training clothes. Most of us have also grown mentally to become more mature and thoughtful.
Astrid in particular went through a complete change. The once little girl was now a strong teenager, a beautiful and fearsome one at that. She reassembled a valkyrie when she brandished her battleaxe or her hatchets during a fight. Like many other kids, her naivety and cuteness was replaced by fearlessness and the aura of a warrior.
"Sorry, sorry. I just get lost in those beautiful blue eyes of yours" I say as charmingly as a ten year old can.
"Oh no you don't!" she exclaimed while swinging her axe at me "You do this every time you want to distract me!"
I parry her attack with my short sword and follow up with a counter slash using the dagger in my left hand.
"While it doesn't distract you anymore it never fails to agitate you!"
She dodged my strike and threw her axe in my direction. By stepping to the side I was easily able to dodge.
"Throwing y-", before I could finish my sentence, a blur pushed me down and immobilized me.
"You talk too much."
"You are the one that makes me talk this much. And while I am asking nicely, could you dismount me? I know you like to show your dominance but if I remember correctly the score is currently 73 wins for me and 13 for you."
"..."
She stands up and gives me a hand, I gladly accept it but when I try to stand up she punches me in the gut with her other hand and leaves to retrieve her axe. "You only win because of your tricks."
The teacher stepped forward and said
" Like usual, we are finishing today's training with Matt being beaten up by his girlfriend."
A hatchet flies past the Grimms head and lands on a wooden board behind him.
"HE IS NOT MY BOYFRIEND!"
"Astrid, while I could retort with all the evidence of you having feelings for him, including your current red face. I must punish you for assaulting your teacher." said the teacher that easily evaded her attack.
"Teach, while I do agree with you that Astrid is a tsundere, I must say that we are not together. Since it could be said that you have initiated this conflict, please be negligent with her." I said, trying to convince him not to punish my childhood friend.
But my teacher responded by "Matt, you know, even though you are the best in my physical training classes I will have to punish you as well. So both of you will have to prepare the obstacles in the arena tomorrow morning. And please don't use weird words like 'tsundere' again, what does it even mean?"
Our friends laughed "it backfired, how unusual haha"
All of us walked back to our dorm, ate a bit of porridge and went to sleep all the while joking about the events of today.
After the counseling day that determined our future occupations, all of us were appointed to different members of the clan to teach us the specific skills that we wanted to learn.
The only lessons we had in common were the fighting and writing classes which are two skills that all Valhallans need to have.
The first person that was in charge of teaching me was a man the size of a bear called Oslo, he looks very similar to that wizard with a flying scooter from that one movie.
But unlike his unkempt and savage appearance suggested, he was well respected by the clan for his intelligence.
He taught me how to be a mage, a crafter and a sage, three professions he had himself chosen and pioneered.
What these professions meant was actually very simple, a mage studied the forgotten technology to make weapons or find weaknesses within "the machines". They also held ceremonies and celebrations pertaining to the gods.
The sages were like doctors and scribes, depending on what sub-occupation you chose you would learn how to brew potions and make medicine or learn basic math, physics and biology.
Crafters are more straightforward, you could be a Smith, an engineer, a tanner or any other job that pertained in creating objects, they often complimented each other so it was good to learn all of them to some degree.
I spent a lot of time with Oslo. In the beginning he just taught me the knowledge I needed while he worked on his own stuff. It was only after a year or so when I gave him some ideas for his work that he opened up to me and let me in on his little experiments.
You would think that for someone that learned science in a more developed world this worlds stone age would seem stupid. It was quite the opposite.
While programming, biology and energy research was pretty much non-existent, smiting, engineering, mathematics and physics were as or even more developed than my previous world.
It could have been them just taking that knowledge from the previous civilization but I do believe that they have also improved whatever they found to make a special Valhallan style.
One day, Oslo came to his workshop carrying the carcass of a machine, while I have heard an extensive amount of things about them, I have never been able to see one in person.
All of them reside beyond the dome and are only brought back to the clan as scrap and parts.
"I have taught you all a sage should know, the ease with which you have learned about the works of nature and the laws of the world still amazes me.
As you have easily passed yesterday's test, I will give you a copy of my encyclopedia and books to do your own research in the future."
"It was only thanks to you that I was able to understand everything so fast… Why do you have a complete machine and why did you bring it here?"
"Well since you have finished your studies as a sage why not directly continue with magic and crafting? Normally you would have been introduced to "the machines" in your combat classes but I decided you wouldn't mind hearing a bit about them in advance.
As for how I got it… Let's just say that I have many friends and that killing a little machine such as this one without destroying it is easy for them."
He then placed the machine on the table and ripped out a steel plate on its underbelly with his bare hands. He pointed to a component and started explaining
"This part acts like their stomach, they consume water, plants or iron scrap as food, this is -"
The anatomy of a machine was incredibly interesting. I originally thought that they were some kind of mechs or terminators but robotic animals are even better.
The one that Oslo brought back was apparently called a lancehorn, a timid robot that can become aggressive if cornered. It looks similar to a unicorn made out of steel. It was so cool that studying it took the rest of the day. Only when Astrid came to bring me back to the dorm did I realise how quickly the time flew.
The same as right now, "Wake up Matt. We have to prepare everything... Thanks to you as usual."
"Good morning." I said slowly standing up from my bed "Nothing feels better than child labor early in the morning."
"Please shut up and follow me."
We left the dorm while all of our friends were still sleeping and approached the training grounds. As we got closer we heard the sound of chains followed by the sight of a machine being restrained in the middle of the arena.
I have not yet described the place I trained in, the training grounds were composed of three parts.
The arena that we were looking at right now is an octogonal hole in the ground that is covered with an iron dome shaped cage. It had two entrances on opposite sides and could easily hold forty people simultaneously. We usually put in wooden walls and barricades inside to create a maze and test our combat skills against each other.
Grimm once brought a bull that we had to dodge, he also had us fight a member of the clan that was passing by.
As you would expect from a 11v1 fight… we lost miserably.
The arena was bordered by a military barrack with a weaponry. We could try out any weapon that was stored in there, some like the rattlers, blast slings and tripcasters that I have never seen before.
I personally prefer to use a spear or a combination of a short sword with a dagger, it gives me a better control over the course of the battle and I just find them more comfortable to use than the other weapons I have tried out. Hunter bows and sharpshot bows are also pretty nice to use but I find them a little cumbersome.
The second part of the training grounds is an artificial hill made out of old cars, ruins and scrap from the previous civilisation that would form a chaotic cave system within the otherwise normal looking hill. Around this already hazardous terrain are cliffs, ravines and swamps which we had to cross to do our survival and strategy "games". It's like capture the flag, area defence or hide&seek but with an extremely dangerous twist.
The last part is actually quite obvious, the few hectares of forest surrounding the main training area serve as hunting terrain and discretion training. Whether I was hunting a boar or one of my friends, I could always feel a thrill, like a predator stalking its prey, which I was literally doing.
Grimm noticed that we had arrived and said, "Oh ! Sorry but I forgot that today your writing teacher Ms.Abelaine will be in charge of teaching you about the machines. Since you have nothing to do anymore, just observe this beast to see if you can understand it." He then left the training grounds towards the village.
"So, apparently we aren't punished anymore... Do you want me to tell you what I know about the machines ? I learned some things about them during my lectures with Oslo."
Astrid was fuming "You! I could have rested a bit more if not for your usual annoying self."
"We both know that you would have been up to train anyway."
"Sure, and since I didn't get to exercise yet, let me use you as my training target." she caught my right arm and tried to throw me on the ground. I spun around her and locked her arm behind her back, we ended up brawling on the floor for a while until I got her locked under me.
"You wanted a training dummy ? I am sorry but I can only be your partner."
"M-My partner ? What are you doing to me when I am stuck like this ?" she became beet red and completely reverted back to her shy character.
"You…" I sigh, but then a cheeky idea comes to my mind, "While I meant training partner… I could also be your partner. If you want, of course."
"I-I-I wouldn't-mind…" she replied, getting redder by the second.
I pause for a second and the words "You what ?" escape from my mouth.
"I s-said that I wouldn't mind being your partner… You know I've always liked you... a little bit more than the others…"
My mind was racing, she likes me ? But I'm not ready, should I turn her down? She is kind of like my sister… But are we even human, does it count ? Or does it even matter ? If I say no, it will probably hurt her. Do I… even need to turn her down ? Do I… like her? That… maybe...
"I...You...S-sure. Let's… Let's be partners…" I replied stuttering.
Her eyes were moist, she approached her face towards mine and-
"Are you quareling again ?"A voice comes from behind us, "Oh shit ! I interrupted something, didn't I ? Sorry, please continue…"
I lifted my head and saw one of the girls, Rebelia, running away and probably going to spread the word about our… situation. She just had to ruin this moment…
Astrid disentangled herself from me and tried to hide her face, "We should get ready, the class is going to start soon…"
What a great start to the day.